This invention relates generally to a suspension system for a clothes washer appliance and more particularly to a suspension system for the vertically mounted tub assembly employed therein including a spin or wash tub into which clothes to be washed are placed.
Different types of suspension systems for supporting the wash tub assembly in a clothes washing machine are shown in the prior art. Many such systems provide stabilization of the spin tub of the tub assembly, especially during a spin cycle when the clothes load therein is out of balance, to minimize the transfer of vibration from the rotatably mounted spin tub to the washing machine housing and base.
Several such systems employ a downwardly facing convex support member upon which an outer stationary tub in which the rotatable spin tub is received, is mounted. The support member is received in a complementarily shaped support surface, thereby providing a seat for the first mentioned member. Examples of such systems are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,836,993; 3,021,997; 3,493,118; 3,922,891; and 3,922,892.
Other washer tub suspension systems employed in the prior art include inverted, interfacing convex members for supporting the vertically mounted rotatable spin tub. Examples of such systems are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,277,742; 3,285,419; 3,535,897; and 3,598,460.
While the above described suspension systems reduce to some extent the transfer of vibration from the spin tub to the washing machine housing and base, the systems provide damping of vibrations only for relatively small out-of-balance loads.
Other remedies for diminishing the vibrations produced in a spinning wash tub by an out-of-balance load have been devised. One such remedy includes the provision of a weighted ring, commonly referred to as a "balance ring", placed along or near the upper rim of the washer spin tub. The theory is based on the principle of a spinning toy top; i.e., that the weighted ring placed at or very near the head of the top tends to produce a balanced spinning thereof. While such rings do aid in stabilizing out-of-balance spinning wash tubs, they alone do not satisfactorily solve the out-of-balance problem.